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Posted: 7/4/2011 8:29:27 AM EDT
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Kel-tec slow down.
Yep, talked with a local guy who deals direct with kel-tec as I am waiting for them to get a RFB in. has been some time since the last ones came in. Also the KSG. He told me he had just talked with KT a few days earlier and they had cut thier production hrs per day. 9-3pm I think or maybe 8-3. I asked really???? What gives I ask. He says he doesn't understand it either. Here he can't get any RFB's and sub 2000's and they fly off the shelf and yet they cut their hrs. Almost like the owner has enough money and not worried about getting stuff out the door. Just wanted to pass that along. Really confusing why a company would do something like that. Especially with the sale of the RFB and people are wanting the Sub guns and now the KSG. |
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I think it isn't a bad idea for a company to slow down. The worst thing Kel-tec can do is to rush to expand their manufacturing capacity and have poor quality control. Not to mention, when you get too big, too quickly, you can very easily loose profit and the work staff looses moral. Next thing you know, you aren't making any money and nobody likes working their.
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I went down and talked to my local guy again today and he showed that they had recieved 3 RFB' and one was for me but then he burst my bubble and they had input the wrong information into thier computer so no RFB's. But they did get some Sub2000's in (glock).
Man was I stoked but oh well. Maybe next week. |
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Strange, I was Just at the Keltec factory 2 weeks ago and heard different from the factory rep who gave myself and 6 others a tour of the factory. During the week, he told me they had 24 hour shifts going on during the week at the machining side, and that that the retail/customer service side maintained normal business hours. I will be heading back in a week or two as one of the shops I frequent is 5 miles from KT. Quoted: Kel-tec slow down. Yep, talked with a local guy who deals direct with kel-tec as I am waiting for them to get a RFB in. has been some time since the last ones came in. Also the KSG. He told me he had just talked with KT a few days earlier and they had cut thier production hrs per day. 9-3pm I think or maybe 8-3. I asked really???? What gives I ask. He says he doesn't understand it either. Here he can't get any RFB's and sub 2000's and they fly off the shelf and yet they cut their hrs. Almost like the owner has enough money and not worried about getting stuff out the door. Just wanted to pass that along. Really confusing why a company would do something like that. Especially with the sale of the RFB and people are wanting the Sub guns and now the KSG. |
| They could have to do it to run maintinence on the tools/machines. After all, bits and tools wear out, gears need greasing, worn gears need replacing, or you get crappy tolerance control and whole batches are screwed because they are out of spec [because someone didn't replace a tool when they should have]. |
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The most important thing to remember about them is that they are actually a very small company. Tiny number of employees. Gregg yeah, but they are the second largest handgun company in the US (production wise)  they are producing handguns to make their money. Rifles are not their money producer. Look at rifles vs. handguns. Handguns seem to be a major money producer for any company. (unless you have a gov. contract). Aramlite even got into the handgun business. handguns are the market right now. |
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Aside from the "bread and butter" pistol prioritization, I suspect t Kel-Tec is making their products as fast as they can. What Kel-Tec/Kelgren is not doing is getting huge bank loans/financing to expand as quickly as possible. Most businesses are only focused on stock price, or quarterly/yearly results. If they found themselves in high demand for certain products like KT is, they'd do anything to pump up the numbers NOW, even if it means huge risks that they'll be left high and dry and in tons of debt once they saturate the market, meet all the demand, the economy tanks and discretionary customer dollars disappear, or trends and fads etc. in firearms simply shift elsewhere. What a lot of people don't understand about owning/running a business is that from a financial perspective, trying to ride boom&bust cycles, it's really easy to "win the battle, but lose the war". So it ultimately boils down to KT doing as much as possible hiring staff, buying CNC machinery, expanding their floor space etc. "out of pocket" only, so KT/Kelgren owns itself lock stock and barrel, and owes nothing to the bank or investors who could take over the company, or start dictating business practices. This means that they expand much more slowly, and run risks of unsatisfied and alienated customers. But it also means they have nearly zero risk of getting bought out, or going bankrupt/tits-up. Still just a guess on my part, but that's what I think is going on with KT's inability to meet demand on the RFB, and other popular models like the PMR-30. And I'm sure the KSG and RMR-30 will be the same way. |
| one thing everyone must keep in mind is the rfb (especially) sub-2000 (love mine) and su-16 and other "specialty" guns they make is as much as we like them they do have a limited market compared to pistols. especially since ccw permits are the rage right now and those are the type of pistols are exactly what they make. so i think they are playing it safe in a crap economy with their more specialty guns and keeping production low on those guns so they dont have a bunch on the shelves not selling. |
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one thing everyone must keep in mind is the rfb (especially) sub-2000 (love mine) and su-16 and other "specialty" guns they make is as much as we like them they do have a limited market compared to pistols. especially since ccw permits are the rage right now and those are the type of pistols are exactly what they make. so i think they are playing it safe in a crap economy with their more specialty guns and keeping production low on those guns so they dont have a bunch on the shelves not selling. Exactly. That coupled with not running on someone else's money makes for a sound business practice, especially with the dear leader admin fucking shit up daily. I'm just waiting for my KSG to come along...patiently waiting. 
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I'm just hoping the KSG come out before this administration bans high capacity guns. Does anyone know if this shotgun will be made as a semi-auto? That's why I paid a little more than dealer cost for my RFB a few years ago. There are no indications there will be a semi version...yet.
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Kel-Tec is one of the better positioned companies right now, because they manufacture inexpensive firearms. People even in bad economic times are still going to purchase firearm they're just more likely to purchase an inexpensive Kel Tec pistol than an HK. From what I understand demand for Kel Tec items far outpaces supply right now. Heck you can't find a PMR in my area for sale if you tried.
Perhaps costs have increased though for materials or utilities? Perhaps labor costs have gone up? Maybe they were leasing tooling that has increased in expense? It's possible that things have changed to the point where they either had to increase their prices or cut back on labor. Increasing their prices would harm Kel Tec big time right now so better to reduce work hours and labor costs. Problem is if your people are working less hours and earning less are you going to retain the skilled labor you need for high levels of QC? Skilled labor in firearms manufacturing is UBER important particularly when you don't have the big dollars for world class tooling. Skilled labor is important. FNH, HK, Colt, and so forth they are world class for high quality not just because they have expensive tooling, but because they have good retention of skilled labor. It's becoming very difficult these days to find skilled workers in manufacturing. Our nation has shifted from an manufacturing based economy to a service one and so to has the skills of our labor force. There are areas of the country that despite providing awesome tax benefits to new manufactures simply can't support manufacturing since they don't have the skilled labor to provide anymore. I know some companies that have to hire guys in their 50's now, because they just can't find younger guys in their 20s with the required skills anymore. It's a sad state of affairs. |
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